“The Hindu” dated : 21st
April 1995 under the title :Multi – linguist par excellence wrote : "Tamil
and Sanskrit are but two mediums that reflect the same image of pan-Indian culture’’. says scholar S.N.Srirama Desikan
The Sangam classics and
Subramania Bharathi’s works, Kamba Ramayanam and Thirukkural, Naaladiyar and
Thiruppavai, Silappadikaram and the poems of Avvaiyar, are among the literary
treasures that have been meticulously translated into Sanskrit by Srirama
Desikan in a labour of love, a monumental work of half a century. Many of the
volumes have an English exposition as well, lucid and apt, displaying yet
another linguistic dimension of this grand old man of translation. Srirama
Desikan’s tour de force, a pioneering work is the translation of the ancient
Ayurveda texts from Sanskrit into Tamil.
As Honorary Special Officer,
Ayurveda Translation Wing, Department of Indian Medicine and Homoeopathy,
Government of Tamil Nadu, Srirama Desikan has in the past 12 years worked to
bring out the Tamil translation of the Ahstanga Sangraham, the Charaka Samhita
(three volumes) and the Susrutha Samhita, comprising in all an awesome 25,000
slokas and totalling 5,397 pages. The magnificent compilation includes
description of procedures, chemical compositions of the herbs, sketches of
surgical tools and photographs of medicinal plants.
As
for literature, the scholar has contributed to the sphere in a myriad ways.
While he was research officer in the Kendriya Sanskrit Vidya Peeta, Tirupati,
he wrote a 1000 page thesis a comparative study between Sanskrit and Tamil from
the Vedic times to the present and from the Sangam age to the modern, drawing
parallels and pointed out similarities between the two languages and
literatures.
The
scholar’s passion for elaborating on the common link between Sanskrit and Tamil
has resulted in a number of carefully researched articles in leading newspapers
and journals where he has expounded this theme.
“I even translated the Kamba Ramayanam into
Sanskrit. In fact, Rajaji, who released the book, wondered at the felicitation
function why one should translate a work which itself had been inspired by
Valmiki’s Sanskrit epic. I gave him a fitting reply about Vedanta Desikan who
rendered the Alwar Pasurams into Sanskrit – the Dramido Upanished Saram. Rajaji
laughed and while wrapping the shawl around me quipped in his inimitable styles
that like a mother-in-law serving food to the daughter-in-law even while
chiding her, he was honouring me.” Sriramadesikan also undertook a massive
comparative study between Kamban, Valmiki and Tulsi.
In
1983, the Chief Minister M.G.Ramachandran impressed with Srirama Desikan’s
translation of the ‘Thirullural’ gave him the assignment of making Ayurvedic
texts easily understood in Tamil Nadu.
Ashtanga Sangraham. Charaka
Samhita and Susruta Samhita, all Sanskrit books on Ayurveda; Tirukural; Naladiar,
Subramania Bharati’s works from Tamil to Sanskrit, Pathypattu (Sangam
Literature work) into Sanskrit, Ettuthogai (Sangam Literature), Silapathigaram,
Andra Kavi Vemans’s works into Tamil and Sanskrit…. The list is endless and the
subjects varied. Sriramadesikan passed away recently but his family can be
approached.
I
would appeal to the Central Institute of Classical Tamil to bring out the
Sanskrit Translation of Thirukkural, so that those who know Sanskrit will
understand the greatness of Saint Thiruvalluvar , a universal poet par
excellence. The Sanskrit Translation of Naladiyar too should be published and
the moral codes of Tamils be known to Sanskrit scholars.
